Giving back

If you are reading this, chances are, you are much more fortunate than the majority of the world's population.
It is never too early to think about giving back; you don't have to wait until you are a millionaire. Consider all the unnecessary things we waste our money on; trust me, you can afford to donate some money and maybe even some time for a good cause.


To make it even easier The hungersite only asks for a mouseclick. By visiting that webpage (and the affiliated pages:breastcancersite,childrenhealth,rainforest, and, animal rescue) and clicking a button you are redirected to a new page with a few banners, and, the sponsors donate on your behalf for the respective cause.

You can also learn about many important issues by visiting the: UNDP where you can learn about the issues facing the developing world. And the AD council, where you can learn about current campaigns and research specific issue you might be interested in.

If you want to be more active, consider:
Volunteering:
-Search for opportunities by location or area of focus
-With the United nations
-And more opportunities.
-also consider mentoring

thanks,

L

International affairs (Video streams)

The first is one my favorite programs on TV, Frontline. The site has about 35 different episodes already online (all new episodes are available online a couple of days after the TV broadcast); each episode has a dedicated webpage with articles, interviews and can completely viewed on high or low bandwidth connections.
All episodes are recommended but 'China in the red' is highly recommended.
(This research paper from Goldman Sachs will go very well with it.)

The second is B-SPAN; the online streaming site for the world bank. Here you can watch very interesting presentations, seminars and roundtables on worldwide economic/development issues. Speakers include Nobel laureates, heads of central banks and others.


The last one for today is SAIS. A large collection of speeches (usually audio streams but some are video too) from heads of states, foreign ministers, ambassadors, senators, professors, etc.
The topic is usually international relations, but you might find other topics too.
[Scroll down to the bottom of the page to get to the archives from previous years]

General resources (Encyclopedias, Dictionaries)

Two web encyclopedias:


1- Wikipedia a free online encyclopedia created entirely by users; however, the content is quite accurate and reliable.

2- Encyclopedia.com is another resource, but, one nice feature is that it also looks for magazine and newspaper articles that contain the search-term.

And three dictionaries:

1- Meriam Webster

2-Reference.com

3-Le grand dictionaire terminologique (french)

Web tools

Today I have some tools that you might use to save time, be more productive or make your life easier.

The first is: TinyURL a website that lets you transform a large address into a short one, making it easier to exchange with others.

The second is a Conversion tool that makes converting distances,temperatures,currencies and other units, quick and easy.

And finally, you can use this
Online virus Scan in case your software is not up-to-date. It is a trustworthy service by Trend Micro.

Science+

Since my first post was about travel, this one will be about science!


The first link is HowStuffWorks a site that has a large collection of articles explaining everything from Aspirin and Asteroids to Windshield wipers and X-rays. It's targeted to the general public, so it's very simple and easy to read. (One cool note: the company is a few minutes away from here, and,I had the chance to meet the founder Marshall Brain.)

The second resource is The National Science Digital Library a gigantic collection of information, and, links to external websites dealing with science, engineering and mathematics. The navigation is not optimal, but, you can use their search engine to look for audio,video, text and other kinds of media. Also make sure you go to 'collections' and browse the whole collection alphabetically.

Two more websites are from public television in
The UK and here in The US these include a mix of articles, videos (from TV shows) and other interesting material.

Make sure to visit Nova and Scientific American Frontiers.
(You can watch shows online)

The last link, I believe is targeted for Kids it would probably be useful to get them interested in science and engineering.

That's it for now!

Travel

Since it's summer and time to think about travel (or if you're lucky actually do it!),
today's links will be from cool travel sites.

The first one is:

Vagabonding.com a site built by Mike Pugh while he was traveling around the world, (check the equipment in his backpack!) I found the site in mid-2003 when Mike was still traveling, but it's still very interesting with a collection of very nice pictures and stories.

The second link is from a much more popular resource, msn, it is a collection of 25 adventures that you can consider with descriptions,links and prices.
You can find it here

Rules

Well,
The rules are simple, I will try to classify each link, maybe some explanation, and note if it's a broadband (BD) link, meaning it probably requires a cable, dsl, T1 connection or better. [you can still try to access it if you have a dial-up connection]

thanks!

Change

This blog is now officially dedicated to sharing links and ideas. Friends seem to enjoy my collection of links, and, it seems logical to share the finds of about 8 years of surfing, specifically because there are so many resources on the web and it is so easy to find what you want. The most interesting pages you will find, are the ones you were never looking for.

L